Let’s do another one of these… Do you think Tron is cyberpunk?
The majority of the movie takes place inside a computer and the bad guy is near the head of an evil corporation, but is that enough? The characters in the movie range from scientist to a computer programmer who owns his own arcade. Not exactly low-lifes. And the only thing that could be considered high-tech is a prototype laser in a laboratory currently under research. Otherwise, it’s a perfectly ordinary modern-day setting. There’s no breakdown in society, there’s no massive wealth gap on display (unless you count someone not getting recognition for a video game he wrote).
So are the visuals of a world inside a computer enough to call it cyberpunk?
You can watch Tron on Disney+ if you haven’t seen it before: https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/tron/4MFq1JeXEe1z
(On a side note, I’m tempted to make a weekly “is this cyberpunk?” post just to help grow the community and drive discussion)
Instinctively I’d say no. It needs to be more than just visuals. It’s completely unfair of course, but I feel like if you can watch it on Disney+, then it’s automatically not Cyberpunk.
Nah, it’s too family friendly
Loosely, yeah.
Yes. Absolutely. No question.
The story is about a little guy, fighting the big corporate power that already beat him once, and is trying take over everything. It also explores trans-humanist themes of person-hood, and AI.
I’m a simple man ✅It’s got future ✅It’s got neon ✅It’s cyberpunk
